Diana Douglas

When Diana Dill's partner in acting studies returned from the Second World War, the first thing she did was marry him. That partner was none other than the stalwart screen icon Kirk Douglas. Though she immediately took on his now famous surname, it was only after her own brief, forgotten run as a blond and beaming leading lady of several rip-roaring adventure yarns that she first shared the screen with the rugged Kirk; they both appeared in the "The Indian Fighter" (1955), a spirited frontier drama about the devastating domino effect of forbidden love. Ironically, however, Diana had split from the male Douglas years before the film's release. While her ex-husband stuck to the big screen, she spent the remainder of her career frequently appearing on playhouse-anthology drama series and in the decidedly flashier world of prime-time soaps, westerns, and police procedurals. In '72, she guested on the jazzily fevered crime drama "The Streets of San Francisco," marking her first on-screen moment with her by-then renowned son, the charismatic Michael Douglas. Having ultimately evolved into a warm, elderly screen presence, she continues to bring to her occasional film and TV roles-including a fun bit in the beloved road comedy "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles"-a certain breezy composure. In an intriguing casting choice, she appeared, some 50 years after their real-life divorce, as Kirk's on-screen wife in the 2003 cornucopian kinship dramedy "It Runs in the Family" (which also starred Michael and her grandson, Cameron Douglas).